Twenty-one comments

Sweeny’s Buttermilk

This is in reply for the request for some McGlinchey tunes.
Splendid Isolation is here allready I think, plust the one that goes with it. Monsieur McGlinchey has written many tunes. Unfortunately I don’ know any more of them. As soon as I find them, I’ll try to post them. Forget the likes of Kevin Burke, McGlinchey is a genius.

Sweeny’s

Great tune, Barney. I first learned it off Kevin Burke’s Sweeny’s Dream recording back in the late 1970s or early 80s. By now this reel must have made it onto other recordings as well. Anyone know which ones?

The only people I’ve heard play this are Kevin Burke and Brendan McGlinchey hiself. Apparently people played it to death in sessions some time ago. As you well know tunes go in and out of favour but this is a cracker of a tune which deserves playing.

Sweeney’s buttermilk

This tune was recorded by Scottish band "Silly Wizard" in 1979, on an LP called "So Many Partings" . They also followed it with 2 "McGlinchey’s Reels" in the same set, one of the few recordings of the 2nd tune of which I am aware.

this tune appears on the first track of Kevin&Seamus Glackin’s ‘Northern Lights’ album (after Reavy’s).They don’t do the top f in the first bar,though.
I like this tune a lot and if you’re in the mood,you can go into Jenny’s Chickens after.

Sweeney’s buttermilk

Here are a few more recordings: This is on the album "Morning Dew" by Brendan Mulvihill and Donna Long, where it’s called "McGlinchey’s" on the cover. (Liner notes mention the title Sweeney’s Buttermilk.)

Joe Derrane has a recording of "Buttermilk Mary" on his album "The Tie that Binds." In his liner notes, he lists Sweeney’s Buttermilk as an alternate title. So are these the same tune or different?

One more recording I know of is on the album "The New Land" by Touchstone. The tune isn’t listed on the cover, but it follows the song Susanna Martin, and it is listed as Sweeney’s Buttermilk in the liner notes.

Whatever the title, it’s a great tune, and I’m glad to see it posted here.

Good story

I asked the folks at IrTrad-L if this was written by McGlinchly or Lennon. This was the response…

"Regarding Sweeney’s Buttermilk-

I was at Gaelic Roots in 1998, and Brendan McGlinchey taught fiddle
classes that year. On the first day, he asked all of us to play a tune for
him (to assess the class, I suppose). There were a few very talented young
fiddlers (teens) and Brendan looked at one of them with a bit of a twinkle
in his eye as the boy completed a reel. Brendan leaned forward and asked
the young man "Do you know the name of that chune?". The boy replied
"Sweeney’s Buttermilk". And then Brendan leaned in a little closer and
asked -"And do you know who wrote it?" The boy shook his head, and
Brendan said "I did". The look on the boy’s face was priceless!

Later that week, Brendan talked a little about writing the tune. He was
spending the weekend at a fleadh with a friend (last name of Sweeney) and
it turned out they both loved to drink buttermilk - hence the name."

This tune was published in Bulmer & Shapley’s "Charlie Lennon’s #2" this was because Charlie Lennon was/is very fond of the tune & played it quite a bit.

Sweeney’s Buttermilk

This reel is also heard on track 5 of Boil the Breakfast Early (The Chieftains 9). The album notes (written by Ciaran Mac Mathuna) call the tune Charlie’s Buttermilk Mary, adding "The Charlie in question is the well known fiddler Charlie Lennon."